Genealogy Jottings

Last summer a DNA test revealed a Ryan ancestral line I had known nothing about. This presented me with a new world of genealogical research, Irish Catholic ancestors. I began looking for information on my second great-grandparents, Daniel Ryan (abt. 1825-1863) and Jane Lawless (1826-1853).

As is often the case in my family, the wife proved easy to trace. The Lawless family originated in Haggardstown, County Louth, Ireland and immigrated in 1849. They settled in Illinois, at Peoria for a few years before they moved on to La Salle County.

The Ryans, on the other hand, pose a difficult research problem. Ryan is quite a common name in Ireland, and Daniel left behind few clues about himself or his family.

The Catholic church refused to open its records of Daniel and Jane’s marriage and their son Richard’s baptism. The names of witnesses to these events, who may have been family members, remain inaccessible to me.

Daniel died in the Civil War, and his second wife Bridget applied for a pension. An investigation into her life yielded no further information about Daniel and his origins.

With no more records of Daniel’s life to search right now, this week I turned to a list of his son’s known Ryan associates. Were any of them relatives?

1. Although he was born in Peoria County, Richard Ryan grew up amongst his Lawless relatives in La Salle County, Illinois. A large Ryan family lived in the same county.
2. William Ryan served as a witness to the minor Richard Ryan’s request for a pension based on his father’s Civil War service.
3. Richard Ryan eventually homesteaded in Hayes County, Nebraska. At least one other Ryan family lived in Hayes County during that era—John Ryan who settled there in 1881; J. E. Ryan, a farmer listed in the county 1890-91 directory; and John R. Ryan who received a land patent in 1891. Other Ryans lived in adjacent counties.
4. A cousin C. J. Ryan was named in Richard Ryan’s obituary in 1925.

Working back in time this week, I looked at census records created during Richard’s lifetime for Hayes and surrounding Nebraska counties. I found no enumeration in 1880, 1900, or 1910 for the John Ryan who had settled in Hayes County. No C. J. Ryan lived in the area.

From this search I still do not know whether I am related to the settler John Ryan. I learned nothing more about C. J. Ryan.

Although these Nebraska census records have yielded no further information about my Ryan family, they did provide me with a list of several Ryan families who lived in southwest Nebraska during Richard’s time there. Following up on them will take a while.

Perhaps there is nothing to find there. Some of Richard’s Lawless relatives settled in Nebraska, and his move to the state may have had nothing to do with his father’s family. Still, I must either prove or rule out the relationships.